George Scovell entered the 79th Cameron Highlanders on 6 June 1854 and was promoted to lieutenant on 8 October that year. The portrait shows him as a young ensign in the full dress of the regiment. He is kilted and wears the plaid as a scarf as in levée dress. He may have joined the regiment in the Crimea but is more likely to have remained with the depot back in the UK. The regimental history only says that he was with the regiment in India for the suppression of the Mutiny, and was at the Relief of Lucknow. He was promoted to captain on 16 June 1857 and retired from the army in 1868. In 1855 the uniform was changed from the coat that he is wearing in the portrait, to a double-breasted doublet, thus losing the expensive gold epaulettes and the lavish gold lace on the high collar and cuff flaps. The tartan is well painted to show the Cameron of Erracht sett. The portrait comes from Bonhams website where it was sold with Scovell’s magnificent dirk for 5,250 pounds in April 2015.
